Installing VMM 2008 Components

Previous chapters of VMM 2008 Essentials have focused on the architecture and system requirements of Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (VMM 2008). With those topics now covered this chapter will move onto the task of verifying system configuration of the target system, obtaining and installing VMM 2008.

Before embarking on an installation of VMM 2008, the first task is to verify that the system on which the software is to be installed meets at least the minimum software and hardware requirements. These requirements are so important that Microsoft has created a tool called the VMM 2008 System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Configuration Analyzer for the specific purpose of checking whether a system is suitable to run VMM 2008.

Before the Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Configuration Analyzer can be installed, the Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer (MBCA) must first be installed on the target system. If this is not already installed, it may be downloaded.

The System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Configuration Analyzer may be downloaded from the Microsoft web site. The download is in the form of a Microsoft Installer (MSI) file called VMMCA.msi which will install the analyzer when launched.

VMM 2008 may be purchased from Microsoft in the form of packaged software which includes installation media. Alternatively, a 180 day trial version of VMM 2008 may be downloaded from Microsoft VMM 2008 web page.

At time of writing, the trail download consists of three separate files, each a little over 1GB is size. One of these files is an executable named SCVMM2008_EVAL.part1.exe. Launching this executable will begin the process of unpacking all of the archives. When prompted, specify a destination folder for the unpacked files and click on the Install button to begin the unpacking process. A list of files will appear in the window as each file is unpacked and .